Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead
Alfred North Whitehead OM FRSwas an English mathematician and philosopher. He is best known as the defining figure of the philosophical school known as process philosophy, which today has found application to a wide variety of disciplines, including ecology, theology, education, physics, biology, economics, and psychology, among other areas...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMathematician
Date of Birth15 February 1861
Alfred North Whitehead quotes about
adventure clarification rationalism
Rationalism is an adventure in the clarification of thought.
religion atheism lasts
Religion is the last refuge of human savagery.
life math mind
Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite, and the purpose of life is to grasp as much as we can out of that infinitude.
simplicity sides found
...the only simplicity to be trusted is the simplicity to be found on the far side of complexity.
wisdom ambition virtue
Wisdom alone is true ambition's aim, wisdom is the source of virtue and of fame; obtained with labour, for mankind employed, and then, when most you share it, best enjoyed.
success enough motive
The motive of success is not enough.
math development may
The science of pure mathematics, in its modern developments, may claim to be the most original creation of the human spirit.
math spirit madness
The pursuit of mathematics is a divine madness of the human spirit.
ideas innovation done
Ideas won't keep. Something must be done about them.
life math offensive
Life is an offensive, directed against the repetitious mechanism of the Universe.
average bottom
When you're average, you're just as close to the bottom as you are the top.
truth half whole
There are no whole truths: All truths are half-truths.
god passing activity
Apart from God every activity is merely a passing whiff of insignificance.
philosophy done wonder
Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains.